Snow White Must Die (Bodenstein & Kirchhoff, #4)(138)

“Step out of the vehicle, open all the doors and the trunk,” Bodenstein ordered. “Where is Tobias Sartorius?”

“How should I know?”

“And where is Dr. Lauterbach? Now get the hell out!”

Terlinden didn’t move. Naked panic showed in his wide-open eyes.

“He’s not getting out,” said a voice from inside the car behind tinted windows. Bodenstein leaned forward and saw Daniela Lauterbach in the back seat. She was holding a gun pressed to the back of Terlinden’s neck.

“Now clear the road at once, or I’ll shoot this man,” she threatened. Bodenstein began to sweat. He had no doubt that Daniela Lauterbach would do as she said. The woman had a gun in her hand and nothing left to lose—an extremely dangerous combination. The doors of the Mercedes had automatically locked by the time the car reached the gate, so neither Bodenstein nor the officers on the other side could have yanked open the doors to overpower the doctor.

“I think she means it,” Terlinden whispered tensely. His lower lip was quivering, and he was obviously in a state of shock. Bodenstein was frantically considering the options. There was not much chance they could escape. In this weather even an S-Class Mercedes couldn’t do more than seventy-five miles an hour with snow tires.

“I’ll let you go,” he said at last. “But first tell me where Tobias is.”

“Probably with his daddy in heaven,” replied Daniela Lauterbach with a cold laugh.

* * *



Bodenstein and a patrol car followed the black Mercedes as it left the company grounds and drove up the hill to the B8, while Pia called for backup on the radio and ordered an ambulance. Terlinden turned right on the highway that had recently been widened to four lanes, heading for the Autobahn. At Bad Soden two more patrol cars joined them, and a few kilometers farther on they picked up three more. Luckily rush hour was over. If they got into a traffic jam the situation could escalate rapidly, but Lauterbach would hardly shoot her driver in the head while they were moving. Bodenstein looked in the rearview mirror. Now a dozen emergency vehicles were following them, blue lights flashing and blocking all three lanes for the traffic behind them.

“They’re heading for the city,” said Pia as the black Mercedes took a right at the Eschborn Triangle. Ignoring the smoking ban in all service vehicles, she lit up a cigarette. Various voices were squawking from the radio. Their colleagues in Frankfurt had been informed and would attempt to keep the roads clear if Terlinden actually headed into the city.

“Maybe they’re going to the airport,” Bodenstein mused aloud.

“I hope not,” said Pia, who was waiting for news of Tobias. Bodenstein took a quick glance at his colleague, whose face was white with tension. What a day. The immense pressure of the past few weeks had barely subsided after Thies and Amelie were found. A whole new chain of events suddenly started, coming thick and fast. Had it really only been this morning that he woke up in Nicola’s bed?

“They’re heading into the city!” Pia yelled into the radio as Terlinden shot straight through the Westkreuz interchange instead of taking the Autobahn 5. “What are they up to?”

“They want to lose us downtown,” Bodenstein guessed. The wipers on high were flicking over the windshield. The snow had changed to pounding rain, and Terlinden was driving way above the speed limit. He wouldn’t be stopping at any red lights, and the last thing they needed right now was for some pedestrian to get run over.

“Now he’s passing the fairgrounds, turning right on Friedrich Ebert Boulevard,” Pia reported. “He’s doing at least fifty, keep the streets clear!”

Bodenstein needed to concentrate. The streets were wet with rain and reflected the taillights of the cars that had pulled over to the side, as well as the blue lights of the police cars that were blocking all the side streets.

“I think I’m going to need glasses soon,” he muttered, stepping harder on the gas so he wouldn’t lose Terlinden, who had just blown through his third red light. What was Lauterbach planning? Where was she going?

“Have you ever thought that maybe she—” Pia began, but then yelled, “Turn right! He’s going right!”

Suddenly, without warning, Terlinden took a right at Platz der Republik down Mainzer Landstrasse. Bodenstein also spun the wheel to the right and clenched his teeth as the Opel skidded around the corner and just missed hitting a streetcar.

“Damn, that was close,” he hissed. “Where’d he go? I can’t see him.”

“Left! Left!” Pia forgot the name of the street in her excitement, although she’d worked for years at the old police headquarters across the street. She was pointing frantically. “He went in over there!”

“Where?” the radio squawked. “Where are you?”

“Turned down Ottostrasse,” said Bodenstein. “But I don’t see them. Damn!”

“Tell the others to keep going straight to the train station!” Pia shouted into the radio. “Maybe he’s just trying to shake us off.”

She leaned forward.

“Right or left?” said Bodenstein as they crossed Poststrasse on the north side of the train station. He had to brake hard as a car came shooting out from the right. Swearing mightily, he stomped on the gas and decided intuitively to turn left.